1. Technical Field
The invention relates to an operation feeling giving input device that can be used as an input device of various electronic devices, an in-vehicle electrical component, or the like.
2. Related Art
An operation feeling giving input device is known in the related art that moves a pointer on the display screen in accordance with the operational position of the operation member if a user operates an operation member such as a stick, and performs the control for leading a pointer toward the inside of a button if a pointer is positioned near a button on the display screen (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-141675 (pages 6 to 7, FIG. 4) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-332325 (pages 5 to 6, FIG. 4)). The lead-in force in the related art is applied to the operation member, which is actually operated by a user, as an external force (operational force). For this reason, a user can obtain operation feeling, which leads the pointer into the button, by the operation member.
Further, in the related art (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-141675 (pages 6 to 7, FIG. 4)), the magnitude of the lead-in force is set according to a distance between the central position of a button and the position of a pointer. For example, the maximum value of a lead-in force is set at a position, which is distant from the central position to some extent, in the display area of a button. Then, as the distance is increased, the lead-in force is set to be described. Accordingly, if a user operates the operation member so that the pointer approaches the button, a large lead-in force is gradually generated, so that operation feeling for naturally leading the pointer into the button is given. In contrast, if a user make the pointer be distant from the central position of the button, a peak of the lead-in force appears at a certain position and the lead-in force is gradually decreased when the pointer passes by this position.
In addition, in the related art (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-332325 (pages 5 to 6, FIG. 4)), if a pointer is positioned between a plurality of buttons having different sizes (for example, a square button and a rectangular button), a button corresponding to a lead-in destination is not determined according to a distance to the central position of each button but is determined according to a distance to the periphery of a button. In this case, since a pointer may be led into not a button that is simply close to the central position, but a button that is apparently close to the central position when a user sees the button, a user does not feel uncomfortable.
Since the above-mentioned methods in the related art are preferable in terms of giving natural operation feeling, the technical value is still high.
In addition, as described in the related art (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-141675 (pages 6 to 7, FIG. 4)), for example, a button (rectangular button) having lengths, which are slightly different invertical and horizontal directions to some extent, is displayed in a method of calculating the magnitude of a lead-in force according to the distance to the central position of a button. In this case, if a pointer is moved to the periphery of the button in the longitudinal direction, a distance from the central position is increased as much as the pointer is moved and a lead-in force is gradually decreased. In this case, even though the pointer is apparently positioned near the periphery of the button, the applied lead-in force is very small. Accordingly, there is a problem in that it is difficult to match the actual operation feeling with appearance.